


Third eye snowblind

by No1fan15



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 06:43:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18516028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/No1fan15/pseuds/No1fan15
Summary: Tien does his damndest to deliver the best gifts possible to his friends.Marron also thinks he's Santa.





	Third eye snowblind

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I know it's april

He'd really underestimated how long it would take to deliver his gifts.

In Tien's defense he didn’t really… do gifts. He preferred to pay people back with his actions rather than objects. However he could see the sentiment behind the idea and with more of his friends settled down there was less to do in the way of work. So he'd agreed on a winter gift exchange with everyone else. Some were celebrating holidays like Hanukkah or Christmas but others were in it for the fun. He personally didn’t really celebrate anything so he'd tried to theme his presents more for the person they were going to rather than their beliefs. How he ended up flying through a snowstorm on the twenty fourth of December carrying a bag of gifts was a simpler tale full of poor time management and unfortunate weather conditions.

He squinted against the bitter cold wind and tried to pinpoint his destination. He'd already dropped off a sizable pile at Capsule Corp. ( Although he'd considered “losing" the gift for Vegeta ) His next stop was the Chestnut household. He knew Krillin wasn't particularly secular but Marron loved Christmas. He'd gotten them both their presents ages ago but 18 was harder to shop for. He'd settled on the offer of letting her come whip some new students into shape at the dojo. She'd probably enjoy that.

He finally spotted the right house and landed on the balcony. He didn’t want to interrupt their night so he'd just leave his delivery outside their door and hope they noticed it. He smiled slightly as he saw a brightly decorated pine tree sitting in the living room. Krillin was a go big or go home kind of guy and no one could one up 18. Of course their tree was extravagant. Nothing compared to what the Briefs had set up but compared to the rest of the neighborhood it was a commendable attempt. He set down his bag and rummaged through it for the right presents. When he looked up again he froze not because of the cold but because of the tiny face staring back at him from inside the house. Before he could take off again the balcony door was pushed aside by small and excited hands.

“Santa?”

With an awkward sense of realization Tien finally understood why Chiaotzu had giggled when he'd taken off on his gift giving journey dressed in a red coat and white scarf. Of course. The novelty hat one of his students had given him wasn’t helping. He put on his best “calming” voice and pushed back said hat a little. “Hey Marron.”

“Uncle Tien?” Marron said, confused. After a moment her eyes lit up again. “You're Santa!?”

“Uh…”

“That's why you're always so busy! And live in the north!” Marron continued in hushed awe. “Does that make Chiaotzu an elf?”

“…. Yes.” Tien knew he'd never hear the end of it if Chiaotzu found out but the mental image was much too funny to ignore. “You can't tell anyone. Promise?”

“I promise.” Marron said. Tien smiled and handed her the small gift pile.

“Merry Christmas, Marron.” he said. She took them and smiled up at him.

“Merry Christmas, Santa Tien.” she whispered gleefully before running back towards the tree. Tien shut the balcony door and took off. He was glad things hadn't been dragged out any further. He didn’t know if he could keep acting without breaking. Even with the storm picking up Tien stayed optimistic. He only had a few presents left to deliver and they were all going to the same place.

That optimism left the second he flew full speed into a tree, a wall, and a snowbank in quick succession. Having an extra eye didn’t help you navigate when it couldn’t see anything through the snow. He winced and stood up. Blinded or not he had a mission to complete. He slowly flew up again, being careful about his surroundings, and thankfully he was close enough to his next target to see it.

 

He landed on his second balcony that night and debated knocking. His plan had been to leave the gifts outside but with this blizzard they'd be buried by sunrise. With the intent of just dropping them off he decided to tap on the balcony door. After a few seconds he saw someone moving behind the curtain. It slid to the side and Tien found himself sheepishly looking at his friend. The door was pushed aside immediately after.

“Tien, holy shit, what are you doing out here?” Yamcha exclaimed. He stared Tien up and down in disbelief. Before Tien could voice any offer of presents Yamcha grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. “Get in here, you insane bastard.”

“S'fine. I just- “ Tien started to say but Yamcha cut him off.

“Listen, you can explain later.” he said. He raised a hand and placed it up against Tien's cheek. “You're a fucking icicle. Get all that wet stuff off of you.”

“I’ve been colder.” Tien mumbled. He started tugging at his scarf anyways. Knowing how stubborn Yamcha could be Tien didn’t have much chance of talking to him if he didn’t take him up on his offer. It took a good minute to strip off his winter coat and everything else covered in snow.

“You didn't wear any layers on your legs? Were you planning on freezing?” Yamcha said.

“I didn’t think I’d be outside this long.” Tien admitted. Yamcha sighed and walked off down the hallway.

“I'll get you some pants. I’m not having you mess up any of my furniture.” he said. Tien stood next to the balcony door, feeling somewhat awkward, and looked around the room.

 

There was a simply decorated tree in one corner of the room next to a couch. A few presents sat beneath it. It was…. Quaint. Yamcha came back down the hall and tossed some navy blue sweatpants at him. “There. Get those on. They should fit.”

“Thanks.” Tien said. They were better than wearing cold and wet clothes inside. Luckily they did fit. He noted how they went with his white undershirt. “Now I too can look like I do nothing all day.”

“Gee, just full to the brim with holiday spirit, aren't you?” Yamcha said. He walked over to Tien again, probably planning to hit him in retribution, and paused when he got near. His eyes widened slightly. “You're bleeding.”

“Oh. I didn’t notice.” Tien said. It was true. His face stung but he had assumed it was from the cold. Yamcha took a step closer to him.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“I might have run into a tree.. and a wall.” Tien said slowly.

“Of course you did. Come on. Let's get you cleaned up.” Yamcha said.

If he thought Tien's crash course was funny he showed no signs of it. Within a few minutes he had Tien sitting on the bathroom counter as he dabbed antiseptic on his cheeks. “You're lucky you didn’t break your nose.”

“Probably.” Tien said. The medicine made everything sting worse but he didn’t flinch. It was his fault for flying recklessly. As Yamcha tended to him Tien finally took the time to get a better look at him. It had been easy to notice his hair was in a ponytail. Other from that he looked ready for bed. A white turtleneck and sweatpants nearly the same shade as his.

“What else did you do tonight?” Yamcha said as he put away his supplies.

“Marron might think I’m Santa.”

“She what?”

 

The story didn’t take long to tell but Yamcha kept halting it so he could laugh. Puar had come over halfway through so they'd already started over once. Then they'd taken a break so Yamcha could grab them some warm drinks. By the time Tien finished his tale they were sitting on the couch next to the tree. Yamcha continued to giggle as Tien sipped at his watered down peppermint liquor.

“Chiaotzu as an elf. That is never gonna leave my brain.” Yamcha said.

“Mine either. Don’t tell him.” Tien said.

“I won't. He'd be furious.” Yamcha said.

“He's your elf helper. Elfer.” Puar said with a snort. “Making gifts while you're teaching.”

“Speaking of gifts….” Tien said. He made his way over to his bag and picked up the last presents from it. “That's why I'm here in the first place.”

“I was gonna ask about that. You know mail exists, right?” Yamcha said.

“Do you want this or not?” Tien said.

“Fine, fine. Your high risk personal delivery system is superior.” Yamcha said.

“Correct.” Tien said. He tossed the bulkier gift at Yamcha and handed a smaller one to Puar. “You may as well open them now. They, uh, might need some explaining.”

“If you insist.” Puar said with glee as they sunk their claws into the wrapping paper. Soon their gift emerged from its box. A small and soft onesie, baby blue, altered for a cat tail and ears.

“Chiaotzu made it. He knows how hard it is to get clothes in your size.” Tien said. Puar held the fabric close to them and beamed.

“I love it! Make sure to tell him thank you for me!” they squeaked.

“I will.” Tien said. He turned to Yamcha. “Your turn, wolf boy.”

“Can't wait.” Yamcha said. After a moment of tearing into the gift he held it up with a befuddled look on his face. “Did…. Did you make this?”

“That easy to tell?” Tien said sheepishly. Yamcha was holding an adequately knitted blue sweater with a crude approximation of a wolf stitched onto the front. The moon behind it was a tad too yellow and the wolf itself was kinda lumpy but recognizable.

“I, uh, got Chi Chi to teach me. Gave her some crops in return. I know it’s not very good but I thought a handmade gift would… mean something, y'know?” A few seconds of silence were broken by Yamcha laughing. Even Puar had a small smirk. Tien felt his face heat up. He didn’t think it was that bad. Sure, it looked silly but… he'd really tried.

“I promise I’m not making fun of you.” Yamcha managed between giggles. “I love it, really.”

“What's with the reaction then?” Tien said. Yamcha gave no words in response but instead got up and retrieved a gift from under his tree. He handed it to Tien and sat back down. Tien gave him a quizzical look but Yamcha only smiled. Tien opened the gift and suddenly the laughter made sense. In his hands was a clumsily made white scarf. One end had an image knitted into it. Some long and thin brown shapes that could be assumed to be reeds. In front of them was a black, red, and white bird. It had to be a crane. Sure it didn’t look like one but based on context…

“The thing is… I might have also gone to Chi Chi for knitting lessons. Helped make dinner as payment.” Yamcha said. “Holy shit, the gossip that’s gotta be out there about us now…."

“Gods, don’t let me think about it.” Tien said. He placed the scarf around his neck with a smile. The meaning of a handmade gift was being proven by example. A warm surge of emotion spread through his chest. “Thank you. This means a lot.”

“Same to you, you dork.” Yamcha said.

“I did have one more present for you….” Tien said. He'd arranged said gift months ago but had planned to deliver it in person anyways. He made a quick trip back to his bag and brought out a small box. By the time he returned Yamcha had managed to wiggle his way into the sweater. He took the box from Tien with a grin.

“I'm not sure how you could top this lovely fashion statement but you’re welcome to try.” he said as he tugged at the ribbons on top. His sassy demeanor faded when he opened the box. “... is this?”

“A dragonball? Yeah. Bulma is hanging onto the rest of them.” Tien said.

“…. Why?”

“Well, a lot of us never had the chance to make a wish. I thought about and… I think you should get one. You’ve been there since most of us met Goku and everything that comes with him. That's almost twenty years of every kind of crazy shit imaginable. You've always been there even when all of us were way out of our league. I talked to the others and we agreed that you deserve it the most.” Tien explained. Yamcha placed the box down and carefully lifted the ball from it.

“….. you’re sure?” he asked quietly.

“I’m sure.” Tien said. He reached out to put what he hoped was a reassuring hand on Yamcha's shoulder. “Like I said, you deserve it.”

 

Tien soon found himself pulled into a hug in lieu of a reply. He returned it as best he could while trying to not fall off the couch. He felt a tad awkward but a quick glance at Puar revealed they were simply smiling at him.

“Thank you.” Yamcha murmured.

“No, thank you. For everything.” Tien said. He didn't want to just say “you’re welcome" and the words were true. Why else would he even think of a gift like this? After so many years and everything Yamcha had done for him it was the least he could do.

“…. I really needed this.” Yamcha said and Tien knew he wasn’t referring to the gift. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“If flying through a blizzard is all it takes to cheer you up I'll try to do it more often.” Tien said. Yamcha laughed and leaned back from their hug.

“Implying that you’d do it anyways?” he said. Tien shrugged with a grin.

“Well, what else would you expect from me?” he said.

“Point taken.” Yamcha said. He fiddled with the dragon ball in his hands. “Though I didn’t expect this.”

“I have to keep surprising you somehow.” Tien said. Another laugh.

“I guess so.” Yamcha said. He stifled a yawn and relaxed into the couch cushions. Evidently his sass had run out for the night. Tien was starting to see why. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until now.

“You mind if I sleep here?” he asked.

“ ‘Course I don’t mind. Knock yourself out.” Yamcha said. He yawned properly and curled up a bit. Tien opted to take his words literally and leaned back.

 

By the time he began to drift off he was vaguely aware of a weight leaning on him. He didn’t bother to check what it was and simply smiled at the warmth before finally falling asleep.


End file.
